C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden - New York Times

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden - New York Times

July 4, 2006
C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden
By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.

"The efforts to find Osama bin Laden are as strong as ever," said Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, a C.I.A. spokeswoman. "This is an agile agency, and the decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus."

The decision to close the unit was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.

Michael Scheuer, a former senior C.I.A. official who was the first head of the unit, said the move reflected a view within the agency that Mr. bin Laden was no longer the threat he once was.

Mr. Scheuer said that view was mistaken.

"This will clearly denigrate our operations against Al Qaeda," he said. "These days at the agency, bin Laden and Al Qaeda appear to be treated merely as first among equals."

In recent years, the war in Iraq has stretched the resources of the intelligence agencies and the Pentagon, generating new priorities for American officials. For instance, much of the military's counterterrorism units, like the Army's Delta Force, had been redirected from the hunt for Mr. bin Laden to the search for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed last month in Iraq.

An intelligence official who was granted anonymity to discuss classified information said the closing of the bin Laden unit reflected a greater grasp of the organization. "Our understanding of Al Qaeda has greatly evolved from where it was in the late 1990's," the official said, but added, "There are still people who wake up every day with the job of trying to find bin Laden."

Established in 1996, when Mr. bin Laden's calls for global jihad were a source of increasing concern for officials in Washington, Alec Station operated in a similar fashion to that of other agency stations around the globe.

The two dozen staff members who worked at the station, which was named after Mr. Scheuer's son and was housed in leased offices near agency headquarters in northern Virginia, issued regular cables to the agency about Mr. bin Laden's growing abilities and his desire to strike American targets throughout the world.

In his book "Ghost Wars," which chronicles the agency's efforts to hunt Mr. bin Laden in the years before the Sept. 11 attacks, Steve Coll wrote that some inside the agency likened Alec Station to a cult that became obsessed with Al Qaeda.

"The bin Laden unit's analysts were so intense about their work that they made some of their C.I.A. colleagues uncomfortable," Mr. Coll wrote. Members of Alec Station "called themselves 'the Manson Family' because they had acquired a reputation for crazed alarmism about the rising Al Qaeda threat."

Intelligence officials said Alec Station was disbanded after Robert Grenier, who until February was in charge of the Counterterrorist Center, decided the agency needed to reorganize to better address constant changes in terrorist organizations.

Slow economy raises recession fears

Wire Report

WASHINGTON - The worst economic growth in four years is raising concern that troubles in the U.S. housing market will spread and throw the country into a recession before the year is out.

The economy practically crawled at a 1.3 percent pace in the opening quarter of 2007, the Commerce Department reported Friday. That was even weaker than the sluggish 2.5 percent rate in the closing quarter of last year.

The main culprit in the slowdown: the housing slump, which made some businesses act cautiously. The bloated trade deficit also played a role.

Consumers largely carried the economy in the first quarter. But will they stay resilient in light of the troubled housing market, fallout from risky mortgages and rising energy prices?

"The No. 1 question is can the consumer continue to play Atlas while the housing market crumbles around him?" said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research. Others worry about businesses' appetite to spend and invest - also important ingredients for a healthy economy.

Friday's report brought some of these uncertainties to the fore. For now, though, economists believe the risk of a recession is low. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has put the chance of a recession this year at one in three.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, however, has said he doesn't believe the economic expansion, now in its sixth year, is in danger of fizzling out. Neither does the Bush administration.

Many analysts, including those at the Federal Reserve, forecast the economy to perk up enough to grow at a modest pace through the rest of the year without tipping into a recession. But at the same time, they see rising risks that the economy will deteriorate further, perhaps into a prolonged period of high inflation and weak growth.

"It was a quarter that was beset by the worst of both worlds, more inflation and less economic growth," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services, who called the combination "a hint of stagflation-lite."

Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said in a speech Thursday night that "economic growth has unexpectedly slowed from 'middling' to a crawl," and that she sees "significantly increased risks to the outlook, for both growth and inflation."

The reading on gross domestic product in the first quarter was the weakest since a 1.2 percent pace in the opening quarter of 2003. GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is considered the best barometer of the country's economic fitness.

The performance was even weaker than the 1.8 percent economists had forecast.

"The economy went through a very soggy period," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's Investment Strategies Group. "The biggest risk to the economy is if the housing market doesn't stabilize. That could force consumers and businesses to cut back sharply in spending. Those risks seem to be limited at this juncture," she said.

The stock market, which rallied earlier in the week on a series of strong corporate profit reports, showed little reaction Friday to the economic figures. The Dow Jones industrials rose 15.44 points to 13,120.94, the third record close in as many days. But the market's enthusiasm could ebb if economic growth remains modest and earnings weaken.

Analysts worry most about the strength of consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy and which kept the economy afloat by rising at a robust 3.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter.

Forecasters expect unemployment to edge higher this year from a low 4.4 percent rate in March. Analysts also note that American households are coping with heavy debt service, softening home values and rising gasoline prices.

If consumer spending falters, the economy could stall or even contract, some observers said.

"If energy and food prices continue on their recent upward path, then it is very likely that the economy will be facing a recession before the end of the year," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.

Although the economy slowed in the first quarter, inflation picked up. That could complicate the Fed's work of keeping the economy and inflation on an even keel.

"This is a knife's edge scenario," observed John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Economics Group.

An inflation gauge tied to the GDP report and closely watched by the Fed showed that core prices - excluding food and energy - rose at a rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Republicans and Democrats had divergent views of the GDP report.

"We knew that the housing market would go through an adjustment. The positive news here is that our economy has been able to grow in spite of that very sharp reduction," Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said in an interview with The Associated Press.

But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called the sick housing market and the swollen trade deficit - which played in the first-quarter's slowdown - "body blows" to the economy that "must be countered by sound economic policy from the Bush administration."

The biggest factor behind the first quarter slowdown was the crumbling housing market. Investment in home building was cut by 17 percent on an annualized basis. Such investment had been slashed at an even deeper 19.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

"The report tells me housing is probably going to be in a more prolonged and deeper recession," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.

Weak investment by businesses in inventories also held back GDP. So did the trade deficit, shaving 0.52 percentage point off GDP.

Another negative factor was a 6.6 percent drop, on an annualized basis, in federal defense spending.

However, consumers whose shopping is indispensable to a booming economy boosted their spending at a 3.8 percent pace. That was a solid showing although it was slightly weaker than the 4.2 percent rate in the fourth quarter.

A key reason consumers have remained resilient, even in the face of the painful housing slump, is that the jobs markets has managed to stay in good shape.

The nation's unemployment rate dropped in March to 4.4 percent, matching a five-year low. However, economists predict that rate will climb - perhaps to close to 5 percent by the end of this year - as economic activity cools.

In other economic news, employers' costs to hire and retain workers grew 0.8 percent in the first quarter, down slightly from a 0.9 percent increase in the fourth quarter, the Labor Department reported.

Wages and salaries went up 1.1 percent, a figure that hasn't been higher since 2001. That's good news for workers and should support consumer spending. Benefit costs, however, edged up just 0.1 percent, the least since the first quarter of 1999.

The IMF Fiddles while the Dollar Burns

AEI
Among the more surrealistic spectacles of the IMF's recently concluded Spring Meetings was the IMF, the supposed guardian of the international financial system, assuring the world that there was little to fear from today's unparalleled global payment imbalances. For the IMF made this assurance at the very time that the dollar's decline appears to be gathering pace, as suggested by its plumbing almost daily new lows against the Australian dollar, the British pound, and the Euro. It also made these assurances at the same time that the key global surplus countries, China and Japan, show no sign of adjusting policies to share at least some of the burden of the dollar's decline.

The IMF's apparent equanimity about global payment imbalances is rooted in its remarkably sanguine world economic outlook. For notwithstanding the gathering clouds in the US housing market, the IMF persists in the view that the US will have the softest of soft landings. In the face of all historic evidence to the contrary, the IMF also takes the view that, even were there to be a hard US economic landing, the rest of the world would somehow make up for any lost momentum in the US economy.

The most immediate risk to the IMF's rosy global economic outlook is that the US housing market is far from bottoming out and that falling home prices will prove to be a continuing drag on the US economy. After all, between 2000 and 2006, US home prices were supported by a host of unusually accommodating factors that fueled a spectacular and unprecedented 80 percent increase in home prices at the national level. This rise in housing prices, coupled with a veritable explosion in Mortgage Equity Withdrawals, provided the underpinning for US households to run down their saving rate from 7 percent of household income in 2000 to virtually zero today.

The IMF now chooses to turn a blind eye to the growing evidence that the US housing market bubble has burst and that housing prices have started to fall. It also chooses to overlook the growing evidence that the factors that had earlier fueled that bubble are now beginning to work in reverse. Indeed, the IMF seems oblivious to the fact that the Federal Reserve has now normalized interest rates after a long period of unusually accommodative interest rates and that the orgy of sub-prime mortgage lending has been stopped in its tracks. Compounding the housing market's present sea of troubles, overall mortgage lending standards are being tightened, while the resetting of Adjustable Rate Mortgages threatens to further crimp housing demand.

A significant US housing-led economic slowdown must carry the threat that the pace of the dollar's decline accelerates, especially given the United States' record need for foreign financing. For a start, the relative interest rate differential that presently favors the US dollar will be eroded as the Federal Reserve is forced to cut interest rates to support a flagging US economy. More important still, the dollar would be hit by the fact that, in any housing-led downturn, US financial assets, including equities and mortgage backed securities, would likely lose their appeal to foreign investors.

Any disorderly decline in the US dollar could intensify protectionist pressures and could pose a serious threat to global financial markets by disrupting the US bond market. This would be all the more so the case should the Asian countries continue to shirk from bearing their share of the burden of a falling dollar and should that burden continue to fall disproportionately on regions like Australia, the Euro area, and the United Kingdom.

Seemingly oblivious to the mounting risks of a disorderly unwinding of global payment imbalances, the IMF had little to offer at its Spring Meetings by way of leadership towards a coordinated policy response to those risks. In its supposed exercise of multilateral exchange rate surveillance, the IMF cobbled together well-worn policy plans from its bilateral consultations over the past year with the United States, Europe, Japan, China and Saudi Arabia. Aside from being at the most general of levels, those policy plans offered virtually nothing new by the way of policy initiatives.

Equally disconcerting is the IMF's virtual silence on the exchange rate manipulation that is so much in evidence in Asia's major economies. Judging by today's Asian economies, it would seem as if each country is free to do as it likes with its exchange rate without raising real objections from the IMF. Indeed, China massively and persistently intervenes in its exchange market to the tune of US$250 billion a year to prevent any meaningful appreciation of its currency. And it does so without incurring the IMF's wrath. For its part, Japan persists with a policy mix of a tightening fiscal policy and extraordinarily low interest rates that ensures a continued weakening in the Japanese yen.

This all has to leave one wondering how far the IMF has strayed from its original mandate as the guardian of the international exchange rate system. It also has to leave one wondering whether the IMF's periodic gatherings still serve much purpose.

Saudi says Qaeda threat not over despite arrests

RIYADH, April 28 (Reuters) - The arrest of 172 suspected militants did not end the al Qaeda-linked threat in Saudi Arabia, the interior minister was quoted on Saturday as saying.

Prince Nayef told the Arabic-language al-Riyadh daily a Saudi man was held on suspicion of being the spiritual leader of the largest of the seven cells which were smashed, foiling a plot to attack oil facilities and military bases.

"We cannot say that we are finished from these deviants," Prince Nayef said. "But efforts will continue. The eyes...are wide open and efforts are under way to purify our country from every evil."

The Interior Ministry said on Friday it had foiled an al Qaeda-linked plot to attack oil facilities, military bases and public figures, arresting 172 people, including some who it said had trained to use aircraft for suicide attacks.

Most of those arrested were Saudis, and security sources said others were from Yemen, Nigeria and other countries. Police seized weapons, computers and more than 20 million riyals ($5 million) in cash.

Islamist militants swearing allegiance to al Qaeda launched a violent campaign to topple the U.S.-allied Saudi monarchy in 2003, carrying out suicide bomb attacks on foreigners and government installations, including the oil industry.

Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter, supplying about 7 million barrels a day to world markets. It holds nearly a quarter of the world's oil reserves.

SCEPTICISM

Thomas Hegghammer, a Norway-based counter-terrorism expert, said the men were arrested over a period of nine months.

"I don't see it as one big plot... These guys were picked up over a period of nine months, and I suspect they include many different groups involved in a variety of activities," he said.

Such activities might include recruiting militants for Iraq and Internet propaganda, he said.

The last announced break-up of a major cell was in December.

"We're seeing a new communication strategy from the Interior Ministry. Instead of announcing arrests as they happen -- which projects an image of continuous instability -- they save them up and present them in bulk," Hegghammer said.

One Western diplomat has suggested that the authorities, who have not yet provided names and other details of the detainees, were trying to play up their anti-terrorism efforts before the West and emphasise the militant danger to the Saudi public.

Most of the 19 al Qaeda militants who commandeered hijacked planes in the Sept. 11 attack on the United States were Saudis.

Prince Nayef said members of the largest cell swore allegiance to their leader at the Kaaba, a sacred site inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest city.

"Unfortunately, he is a Saudi. He was arrested along with the group," he said, without giving further details.

LOYALTY VIOLATED

Saudi Arabia's top official cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-aziz Al al-Sheikh said in a statement the oath was a violation of the principle of loyalty to the Saudi royal family.

"Their brazen oath to their leader and preparations involving arming themselves is a revolt against the ruler," he said, describing this as "the most grave of sins".

U.S. border chief touts 'virtual wall' - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

U.S. border chief touts 'virtual wall' - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

U.S. border chief touts 'virtual wall'
He says high-tech system will detect 95 percent of illegal crossings
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:51 p.m. ET April 26, 2007

MEXICO CITY - A high-tech “virtual wall” will detect more than 95 percent of illegal crossings at the busiest jumping-off point along the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. Border Patrol chief said Thursday.

In a videoconference with reporters in Mexico, David Aguilar predicted the so-called “virtual wall” of lights, ground sensors and cameras — reinforced by more agents — will essentially halt illegal crossings along the Arizona border, the busiest section for clandestine entries.

Officials expect to complete 28 miles of the high-tech system in Arizona by June, and by next year it should run into New Mexico and parts of Texas.

Eventually, the integrated system will cover sections along the entire border, from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas.

“We will be able to identify, detect and classify more than 95 percent of illegal entries with the virtual wall,” Aguilar said.

Fewer attempted crossings
Detentions along the U.S.-Mexico border already have dropped by 30 percent from October 2006 to this week, compared to the same period last year, Aguilar said — a reduction officials attribute to fewer attempted crossings. In 2006, 1.1 million migrants were detained.

He attributed the fall to President Bush’s deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to the border, the addition of more than 700 Border Patrol agents this fiscal year and new strategies.

Along a 210-mile stretch in west Texas, detentions have dropped 65 percent since the start of a federal project called Operation Streamline, which jails and prosecutes any illegal immigrant caught crossing there.

Aguilar said far fewer immigrants have been seen at traditional staging points in Mexico and that agents have not seen a shift to new crossing areas along the border.

Congress has approved 700 miles of fence for the border and has allowed officials to decide whether to build metal fences or virtual walls.

Aguilar expects most of the distance will be covered by the virtual barrier, with metal walls kept to a minimum.

The U.S. government is adding 70 miles of metal walls this year and 225 miles next year. The barriers are being built primarily in Arizona, which has seen the largest flow of illegal migrants since a U.S. crackdown in Texas and California more than a decade ago funneled people into its remote desert.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has likened the barriers to the Berlin Wall.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18336458/
© 2007 MSNBC.com

Va. Tech students get questionnaires - Massacre at Virginia Tech - MSNBC.com

Va. Tech students get questionnaires - Massacre at Virginia Tech - MSNBC.com

Va. Tech students get questionnaires
State police asked for it as 'another evidentiary tool'
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:34 p.m. ET April 27, 2007

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Stumped in their search for a motive, authorities at Virginia Tech have sent out a questionnaire asking students for any information they may have about gunman Seung-Hui Cho and his first victim.

A copy of the questionnaire obtained by The Associated Press asks students in the dorm where the rampage began if they had any interaction with Cho and whether they knew freshman Emily Hilscher, who was killed along with senior Ryan Clark in West Ambler Johnston Hall.

State police requested the questionnaire earlier this week, and the FBI asked resident advisers to help circulate the forms, said state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller. The questionnaires are voluntary, she said.

"This is another evidentiary tool," Geller said Friday. "It's just a way of reaching out to the student base."

No link to first victim
Earlier this week, state police Superintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty said police have been unable to determine why Cho began his attacks at the dormitory, and why Hilscher was the first victim.

Witnesses place Cho outside West Ambler Johnston shortly before 7:15 a.m., when he fired the two shots that killed Hilscher and Clark. It is not known how Cho entered the building.

Cho eventually killed 30 other people inside Norris Hall, before taking his own life in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Most students said they did not mind filling out the questionnaire and hoped it would help investigators.

"Even though it is a little bit creepy for us to be having to fill this out, they should do whatever they can," said sophomore Kristina Ticknor, who lives on the floor where Cho killed Clark and Hilscher. "If anybody did see him around West AJ, or if anybody did see him the night before, and they're too scared to come out about it, this gives them the opportunity to do so."

A memorial of wilting flowers and rain-dampened letters of support still remained Friday outside Ambler Johnston, which houses nearly 1,300 students.

Dorm rooms sealed off
Ticknor said two white plywood walls have been put up to seal off Hilscher and Clark's rooms.

"I came back on Sunday, a week later, and it was really, really creepy to be back," Ticknor said. "But being back here in the community, everybody's doing so much to support each other, that it completely helps the healing process."

The questionnaire asks students six questions:
# Briefly describe your activities in and around Ambler Johnston Hall between the night of April 15 and April 16. Please include times.
# Have you seen any suspicious activity in or surrounding Ambler Johnston Hall that might pertain to the events of April 16? If so, please describe.
# Did you know Emily Hilscher? If you did, please describe the nature of your relationship.
# Have you ever seen Seung-Hui Cho in or surrounding Ambler Johnston Hall? If so, please describe.
# Did you know or have any interactions with Seung-Hui Cho? If so, please describe.
# Please provide any other additional information that may be helpful to the investigation.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18355907/

Tenet: White House warned of Iraq chaos - Politics - MSNBC.com

Tenet: White House warned of Iraq chaos - Politics - MSNBC.com


Tenet: White House warned of Iraq chaos
Book by ex-CIA chief highly critical of Cheney; Bush official rejects claims
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:01 p.m. ET April 27, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - The CIA warned the Bush White House seven months before the 2003 Iraq invasion that the U.S. could face a thicket of bad consequences, starting with “anarchy and the territorial breakup” of the country, former CIA Director George Tenet writes in a new book.

CIA analysts wrote the warning at the start of August 2002 and inserted it into a briefing book distributed at an early September meeting of President Bush’s national security team at Camp David, he writes.

The agency analysis painted what Tenet calls additional “worst-case” scenarios: “a surge of global terrorism against U.S. interests fueled by deepening Islamic antipathy toward the United States”; “regime-threatening instability in key Arab states”; and “major oil supply disruptions and severe strains in the Atlantic alliance.”

While the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have been widely criticized for being wrong about much of the prewar intelligence on Iraq, the analysis Tenet describes concerning postwar scenarios seems prescient. Iraq is buffeted by brutal sectarian violence, and there are suggestions that the country be partitioned into ethnic zones.

However, Tenet cautions against concluding that the CIA predicted many of the difficulties that followed. “Doing so would be disingenuous,” because the agency saw them as possible scenarios, not certainties, he writes. “The truth is often more complex than convenient.”

The analysis also presaged an intelligence community conclusion last year that the Iraq war was fueling Islamic resentment toward the United States and giving rise to a new generation of terror operatives.

Tenet’s recollection of the memo also comes at a time when Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress are locked in a high-stakes dispute over war funding and whether to set hard timetables for ending the war.

A copy of the book, “At the Center of the Storm,” was purchased by an Associated Press reporter Friday at a retail outlet, ahead of its scheduled Monday release. Tenet served as CIA chief from 1997 to 2004.

The book is highly critical of Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials, who Tenet argues rushed the United States into war in Iraq without serious debate — a charge the White House rejected Friday. Beyond that, he contends, the administration failed to adequately consider what would come in the war’s aftermath.

“There was precious little consideration, that I’m aware of, about the big picture of what would come next,” Tenet writes. “While some policy makers were eager to say that we would be greeted as liberators, what they failed to mention is that the intelligence community told them that such a greeting would last only for a limited period.”

The former CIA director offers a litany of questions that went unasked:
# “What impact would a large American occupying force have in an Arab country in the heart of the Middle East?”
# “What kind of political strategy would be necessary to cause the Iraqi society to coalesce in a post-Saddam world and maximize the chances for our success?”
# “How would the presence of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops, and the possibility of a pro-West Iraqi government, be viewed in Iran? And what might Iran do in reaction?”

Tenet laments that “there seemed to be a lack of curiosity in asking these kinds of questions, and the lack of a disciplined process to get the answers before committing the country to war.”

Tenet assigns his own agency part of the blame, saying the intelligence community should have strove to answer the questions not asked by the administration.

The memoir paints a portrait of constant tension between the CIA and the office of Cheney, who Tenet says stretched the intelligence to serve his own belief that war was the right course.

It alarmed Tenet and surprised even Bush, the author says, when Cheney issued his now-famous declaration that, “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”

Chastising Cheney nearly five years later, Tenet writes: “Policy makers have a right to their own opinions, but not their own set of facts.” Here again, Tenet blames himself for not pulling Cheney aside and telling him the WMD assertion was “well beyond what our analysis could support.”

For the first time, Tenet offers an account of his own view of a historic moment in the run-up to war: Secretary of State Colin Powell’s February 2003 speech before the United Nations, with Tenet sitting just behind him.

“That was about the last place I wanted to be,” Tenet recalls. “It was a great presentation, but unfortunately the substance didn’t hold up,” he says of the performance, in which Powell charged Iraq had WMD stockpiles.

“One by one, the various pillars of the speech, particularly on Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons programs, began to buckle,” he writes. “The secretary of state was subsequently hung out to dry in front of the world, and our nation’s credibility plummeted.”

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18348452/page/2/

9/11 Truth Protesters in New York Harrassed By Silverstein Security Thugs

9/11 Truth protesters in New York peaceably hold signs outside the new Building 7, before Silverstein's security thugs emerge to hassle the group, with one cackling about their impending arrest.

For Mark Dice's 911 Truth Jam Contest
Directed by Dan and Rob
Produced by Luke
www.wearechange.org

University develops lip-reading technology for surveillance systems

cctv-core
Richard Harvey, a senior lecturer in computer vision at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, has secured £391,814 funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, for a three-year project to develop lip-reading technology which could be used in video surveillance systems.

The project will collect lip-reading data which will be used to create systems that can automatically convert lip motions into readable text.

Researchers will develop techniques for recognising head positions, lip shapes, and their related sounds.

Lip-reading technology would help video surveillance systems identify people planning a crime or terror attack by recording the movement of suspects’ lips.

The system would be able to identify key words or sentences which would trigger an alert message to a central console, mobile phone, or other communications device.

Automated lip-reading systems are already in existence, but they are relatively inaccurate and require good lighting and static heads.

The technology being developed by the project can already lip-read between 10 and 30 utterances, with an accuracy of around 50%. With further development the technology could be able to handle natural speech.

The technology has obvious security applications but could also be incorporated in camera phones to allow users to communicate in noisy environments.

related link
http://www.cctv-core.co.uk/25-04-2007-university-develops-lip-reading-technology-for-surveillance-systems.html

Saudi arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com

Saudi arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com

Saudi arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep
Police seize caches of arms, $5 million; some suspects said training to fly
NBC News and news services
Updated: 11:24 a.m. ET April 27, 2007
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police have arrested 172 militants who were plotting to attack Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, storm its prisons to free the inmates and use aircraft in their attacks, the Interior Ministry said Friday.

"They had reached an advance stage of readiness and what remained only was to set the zero hour for their attacks," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki told the Associated Press. "They had the personnel, the money, the arms. Almost all the elements for terror attacks were complete except for setting the zero hour for the attacks."

The militants planned to carry out suicide attacks against “public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that some of the military targets were outside the kingdom, but it did not elaborate.

Some of the militants were being trained to fly aircraft, the statement added, raising the specter of more attacks like Sept. 11, 2001, in which terrorists hijacked passenger planes and flew them into buildings in New York and Washington.

“Some had begun training on the use of weapons, and some were sent to other countries to study aviation in preparation to use them to carry out terrorist operations inside the kingdom,” the statement said.

It said the suspects, mostly Saudis, had been “influenced by the deviant ideology,” a reference frequently used by Saudi officials to refer to al-Qaida.

Plastic explosives found
The Saudi state TV channel Al-Ekhbariah broadcast footage of large weapons cache discovered buried in the desert. The arms included bricks of plastic explosives, ammunition cartridges, handguns and rifles wrapped in plastic sheeting.

Al-Turki told the privately owned Al-Arabiya TV channel that the militants included non-Saudis and that one cell planned to storm a prison and release the inmates.

The ministry said more than $5 million was seized in the operation, one of the largest sweeps against terror cells in the kingdoms. Earlier reports gave the amount as $32 million.

Al-Ekhbariah showed investigators breaking tiled floors with hammers to uncover pipes that contained weapons. In one scene, an official upends a plastic pipe and bullets and little packets of plastic explosives spill out.

U.S. intelligence sources told NBC News that the planned attacks were very serious but not imminent and part of a long-standing plan by al-Qaida to take down the Saudi monarchy.

"We and the Saudis are taking this very seriously," said one official. "This plot was being worked by the Saudis for a long time, but I would steer you away from suggesting that it was imminent. Saudis have been working this intently."


Last attacks in February
The al-Qaida terror group, whose leader Osama bin Laden is a Saudi, has called for attacks on the kingdom’s oil facilities as a means of crippling both the kingdom’s economy and the hurting the West, which he accuses of paying too little for Arab oil.

Militants in February killed four French expatriates working and living in Saudi Arabia in the latest attack on foreigners in the pro-Western kingdom.

Saudi Arabia warned foreign embassies last month that a group blamed for the killings could strike again.

Militant Islamists have said they want to drive “infidel” Westerners out of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest sites.

Tough security measures and a powerful publicity campaign helped crush the violence but analysts and diplomats have said the underlying drives of radical Islamic ideology and anger at Western policy in the region remain strong.

© 2007 MSNBC InteractiveNBC News investigative producer Robert Windrem as well as The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18349238/


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© 2007 MSNBC.com

Internal Carlyle Group Memo: Market Good For 12-24 Months

IF - internatinoal forcaster
Now hear this! What we are about to tell you comes from deep within the bowels of the Illuminati. This information runs parallel with what we have been forecasting in our issues of the IF.

In February, via an internal memo, the Carlyle Group said they see another 12 to 24-months or more of “excess liquidity,” which will drive further profits and growth and that the current liquidity environment cannot go on forever; and, that the longer it lasts the more money our investors will make; but also that the longer it lasts, the worse it will be when it ends”

In the missive it was stated that Carlyle's fabulous profits were not solely a function of their investment genius, but have resulted in large part from a great market and the availability of enormous amounts of cheap debt. In fact, there has been and is so much liquidity in the world financial system that lenders, even their own lenders, are making very risky credit decisions. This sea of money and credit has allowed deals to be done that could never have been done otherwise.

They do not expect the Fed to reduce interest rates anytime soon.

What could bring this global liquidity to an end? Just that business would diminish their borrowing or could it be higher interest rates? Could it be a terrorist attack; $100 per barrel oil; trade protectionism; the absorption of excess skilled labor into the global economy; the US elections; Russian energy policies; a multi-billion dollar bankruptcy; a tightening by the Bank of Japan or the Fed; an end to the yen carry trade as a result; or perhaps the collapse of several hedge funds or a derivative collapse? All are possible and at least one is probable.

The strategy should be to take lower risk deals and earn lower returns rather than higher risk deals at only small incrementally higher returns. We should redouble our focus on deals with downside protection, asset coverage, multiple and early exit paths, strategic partners, debt pay down, government protection, consumer needs, controllable capital expenditures, defensible market positions, etc.

Carlyle is being careful because they know what is coming, just as we have been telling you here in the IF. Carlyle is the insider. What we have been busy doing for years is figuring out what these elitists will do before they do it.

This is exactly what we have been forecasting. If we and Carlyle are correct, we can expect more than ample liquidity until February of 2009. During the year to 1-1/2 years that follow liquidity will decline and inflation will diminish. After three months of declining liquidity or declining use of liquidity we will know it is time to sell all assets except gold bullion coins, quality gold shares and for those of you who have to have some liquidity, Swiss francs.

Now that foreclosures are going wild lots of crooks are defrauding homeowners. Here are some tips. Don't pay upfront fees to any person or organization promising help. Don't sign anything without have an independent lawyer review it. Seek out accredited financial counselors, using lists such as those kept by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Wild rescue offers that are too good to be true are just a scam.

This week the Supreme Court stepped into the subprime lending crisis with a potentially far-reaching ruling that limits the power of individual states to regulate mortgage lending. The elitists have to control everything in our lives.

The Supreme Court is allowing banks to offer new terms on mortgages in violation of the law.

This will have a big impact on the ability of states to act independently on predatory lending and throws the spotlight on federal authorities.

The Consumer federation of America said, “This is really disappointing news, it could work to the detriment of consumers.”

Applications for mortgages fell for the 5th straight week as ARMs fell to 18.1% of applications, the lowest since 7/03. A year ago they accounted for 30%. Refis were 2.5% lower wow, but they were up 10% yoy. Refi apps fell 0.3% and accounted for 44% of applications. The volume of loan applications to buy a home fell 4.2%, but purchase loans were down 3% yoy. US home sales are off 5.5% yoy. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose from 6.16% to 6.22%, the highest in nine weeks. The 15's rose 1 bps to 5.92% and the one-year ARMs rose 1 bps to 5.89%.

US foreclosure filings rose 47% in March yoy. That was 149,000 as California's filings rose 31,434. Nevada and Colorado had the largest percentage gains. Those making late payments are at a four-year high and the failure of 55 subprime mortgage companies has tightened the supply of money for lending. Nevada's foreclosures were triple yoy. That is one foreclosure for every 183 households, which is four times the national average. Colorado's rate was one for every 292. Nationally it was one of every 775. California had 6 of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates, Stockton being the highest. The others were Vallejo-Fairfield, Modesto, Sacramento, Riverside-San Bernardino and Bakersfield. Greeley, Colorado and Detroit and Denver were also up near the top.

Suspected al Qaeda operative in U.S. custody

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An al Qaeda member accused of assassination plots against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and U.N. officials has been captured by the CIA and is in U.S. military custody, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was also accused of commanding al Qaeda's paramilitary operations in Afghanistan and launching attacks on U.S. and coalition forces from Pakistan, the Defense Department said.

The Iraqi was detained trying to get back into Iraq to "manage al Qaeda's affairs" there, according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

But the Pentagon would not say when he was captured.

With al-Hadi, the Pentagon is now holding 15 men it considers "high-value detainees" -- a classification that indicates U.S. officials believe the capture had a significant effect on al Qaeda operations and the prisoner is capable of providing high-quality intelligence.

Weak economic growth hits dollar

The US economy grew at its weakest pace for four years during the first quarter of 2007, figures from the US Commerce Department show.

The news pushed the dollar to record lows of $1.3667 against the euro.

US gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of just 1.3% in the first three months of the year, down from 2.5% in the previous quarter.

Separately, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index also fell, but not as much as had been feared.

Its consumer sentiment index slid to 87.1 in April from 88.4 in March, which was the third fall in a row.

But the latest figure had been expected to be even worse - the preliminary reading for April was 85.3.

The final result was boosted by optimism about the current rally on Wall Street.

"We got a better than expected number amid several months of disappointing news," said Michael Woolfolk from The Bank of New York.

"This is the first ray of sunshine befitting a dreary April," he added.

Economic concerns

The Commerce Department blamed the slowdown in growth on a slump in the housing market and America's widening trade gap.

I think we're going to see one euro worth $1.38 without too much trouble here."
Analyst Joe Trevisani

US exports declined at a rate of 1.2% in the January to March quarter, while imports rose 2.3%, helping to drag output figures lower.

GDP - which measures the value of all goods and services produced in a country - is considered the best measure of the economic health of the US.

The latest figures were considerably worse than earlier forecasts of 2% growth, and triggered fears for the future of the world's largest economy - pushing the dollar lower against the euro.

On Wednesday, the latest Beige Book - which measures regional economic data - recorded only "modest" growth across the country since February.

Concerns over the housing market and related sub-prime mortgage market have also taken their toll. Earlier this week, figures showed sales of non-new US homes dropped 8.4% in March.

Some analysts fear a sharp drop in the housing market, along with a weak manufacturing sector, could trigger a US recession.

Data earlier this week from the Conference Board survey also showed US consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since August last year.

Balancing act

However, despite widespread concern over the future of the US economy, central bank chief Ben Bernanke has said he does not expect the US to slide into recession this year.

His comments contrasted with comments from former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan who put the chances of a recession at one in three.

The Federal Reserve has long been battling a tough balancing act with its rates decision - trying to rein in inflation without cutting into growth.

As a result, US rates have remained on hold at 5.25% since August last year.

But the latest figures could cause more problems for the Fed, as while growth has slowed, inflation increased during the first quarter.

The Fed's preferred inflation rate, which strips out volatile food and energy costs rose 2.2% during the first three months of the year, up from 1.8% in the previous quarter.

The rise comes despite Fed signals that it believed inflation had eased slightly .

Putin slams U.S. plans for anti-missile system

MOSCOW, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday lashed out at U.S. plans to deploy anti-ballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"We see absolutely no arguments in favor of the deployment of missile defense systems in Europe; there are no s
uch reasons," Putin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying after discussing such issues with his visiting Czech counterpart in Moscow.

The United States suggested earlier this year that a missile shield be deployed in central Europe, including interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in Czech Republic. The operation is expected to start from 2011.

Russia has repeatedly criticized the U.S. proposal, saying that it will harm regional security situation. The United States has insisted that it will only target the possible missile threat from Iran or North Korea.

The president, however, regarded the facility "an inalienable part of American strategic nuclear weapons," rather than a defense system, and threatened to take counter measures.

"For the first time in history, systems of American nuclear strategic complex appear on the European continent...These systems will control the Russian territory to the Urals if we, of course, take no counter measures, and we shall be doing that," he said.

Putin also criticized the growing NATO military presence in Europe, including alleged plans to establish two new bases in Bulgaria and Romania, for 5,000 troops each.

"It turns out that Russia is disarming unilaterally, while our partners are filling European space with new armaments," Putin said.

During his final state-of-the-nation speech delivered on Thursday, Putin said Russia will suspend obligation under the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe as NATO signatories to the treaty are not ratifying it, which has been inked by Russia and three other nations.

Saudi arrests suspects planning oil attacks

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Friday it foiled an al Qaeda-linked plot to attack oil facilities and military bases, arresting more than 170 suspects, including some trainee pilots preparing for suicide operations.

The Interior Ministry, in a statement read on state television, also said police seized weapons and more than 20 million riyals ($5.33 million) in cash, from seven armed cells.

"Some had begun training on the use of weapons, and some were sent to other countries to study aviation in preparation to use them to carry out terrorist operations inside the kingdom," the statement said.

"One of their main targets was to carry out suicide attacks against public figures and oil installations and to target military bases inside and outside (the country)," it added.

Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter, supplying about 7 million barrels a day to world markets. It holds nearly a quarter of the world's oil reserves.

The ministry said the suspects had been "influenced by the deviant ideology," a reference used by Saudi officials to refer to al Qaeda, led by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.

Most of the 19 al Qaeda militants who commandeered hijacked planes in the September 11 attack on the United States were Saudis.

Islamist militants swearing allegiance to al Qaeda launched a violent campaign to topple the U.S.-allied Saudi monarchy in 2003, carrying out suicide bomb attacks on foreigners and government installations, including the oil industry.

"It is obvious that the deviant group is still trying to revive its criminal activities in the kingdom," Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said.

TRAINING IN "RESTIVE AREAS"

He said that a total of 172 suspects from seven cells have been arrested, mostly Saudis but including some foreigners, who had trained abroad.

"They are linked to foreign elements and had benefited from restive areas to recruit, plan and train (for attacks)," he added, in an apparent reference to Iraq, where up to 3,000 Saudi militants joined Iraqi insurgents to fight the U.S.-led forces.

The television showed police digging in desert areas and searching buildings, seizing weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles, computers and bundldes of money.

Militants in February killed four French expatriates working and living in Saudi Arabia in the latest attack on foreigners in the pro-Western kingdom.

Saudi Arabia warned foreign embassies last month that a group blamed for the killings could strike again.

Al Qaeda militants have said they want to drive "infidel" Westerners out of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines.

Tough security measures and a powerful publicity campaign helped crush the violence but analysts and diplomats have said the underlying drives of radical Islamist ideology and anger at Western policy in the region remain strong.

Officials say about 144 foreigners and Saudis, including security forces, and 120 militants have died in attacks and clashes with police since May 2003, when al Qaeda suicide bombers hit three Western housing compounds in Riyadh.

Blair wants end to 'abstract' EU

The EU needs to focus on issues of concern to its citizens, rather than spend years on "abstract constitutional debate", the UK prime minister says.

Tony Blair said it was easier to make the case for the EU if it was not "remote from the people in the street".

People felt the EU was "on their side" when it tackled "bread-and-butter issues" such as jobs, immigration and energy, he said in Warsaw.

He was speaking after talks on the EU treaty with Polish leaders.

He said the two countries shared "basic concepts" about the future of the EU.

'Working together'

"We both want a Europe that is effective, that is practical, but a Europe that is one of sovereign and independent states collaborating and working together."

His meeting with prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and president Lech Kaczynski came head of a key EU summit in June, which Mr Blair is expected to attend as one of his final foreign events before he leaves office.

The EU is trying to work out new rules to govern its expanded 27 country membership.

In 2005 the EU constitution was put on hold after it was rejected by two countries in referendums.

It was fully ratified by 16 of the 27 member states but it cannot come into force unless it is ratified by all 27.

Remote arguments

In a swipe at the lengthy process of agreeing on a constitution, Mr Blair said: "We believe in Europe, Britain believes in Europe, Poland believes in Europe.

"But it is easier to make the case for our people when it is a Europe that is not arguing about things that are remote from people in the street, but are arguing about the bread and butter issues, the jobs, and the immigration and the crime and issues like energy, [issues] that are absolutely vital for our citizens.

"When we are debating those issues people feel Europe's on their side.

"When we end up with years and years of quite abstract constitutional debate people don't feel Europe is really in the place they want it to be."

Earlier this week Mr Blair, who is expected to announce his retirement date within the next two weeks, held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The German EU presidency plans to propose a timetable and some suggestions on the substance of a future treaty at the June summit.

The Berlin Declaration adopted in March 2007 called for institutional changes by the European Parliament election in mid-2009.

'Sneak' criticism

Mr Blair has already backed a Dutch proposal for the EU to push for changes to existing treaties with the aim of easing some fears of a European super-state.

But he has been accused by opponents, including the UK Independence Party, of trying to "sneak" the constitution through without a referendum which UKIP says he would "lose heavily".

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: "Every time a new treaty comes on the horizon they describe it as a 'tidying up exercise' or 'amendments'. The reality is that each treaty drags us further into a country called Europe."

As part of his diplomatic talks on the issue, Mr Blair also met Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende earlier this month.

Ex-CIA chief pens critical memoir

bbc
The former head of the CIA, George Tenet, has criticised the way the White House conducted itself in the run-up to launching the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In a new book, Mr Tenet accuses the US administration of failing to properly debate the evidence for going to war.

And he said one of his own comments was distorted by the US vice-president.

Mr Tenet, who resigned in 2004, is the first member of President Bush's inner circle to pen a memoir recalling 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His 549-page book, At The Centre of the Storm, focuses on Mr Tenet's seven-year tenure as CIA director.

"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."
George Tenet
Former CIA director

According to excerpts of the book published in the New York Times, Mr Tenet is critical of his own role in the build-up to war, most notably taking blame for a flawed 2002 intelligence assessment of Iraq's weapons capability.

"In retrospect, we got it wrong partly because the truth was so implausible," he writes.

Speech dropped

But Mr Tenet is unequivocal in his judgement about the administration's approach to Iraq before 2003.

"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat," he writes.

Special criticism is reserved for the US Vice-President Dick Cheney, who he says had to be reined back on one occasion from delivering a speech that explicitly linked Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda.

Mr Tenet also accuses the vice-president of twisting the meaning of one of his own remarks.

In the months preceding the invasion, Mr Tenet told a high-level meeting that conclusive evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) would be a "slam dunk" in publicly promoting the case for war.

Mr Tenet insists that his remark was theoretical and was not intended to persuade President Bush that Iraq actually had WMD.

Mr Cheney has since told a TV interviewer that the "slam dunk" remark helped convince Mr Bush to give the go-ahead for war - an argument Mr Tenet laughs off in his memoir.

"I remember watching and thinking: 'As if you needed me to say "slam dunk" to convince you to go to war with Iraq,'" he says.

First Quarter Economy Slows to 1.3 Percent Growth

newsfactor
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other economists don't expect the economy to fall into a recession this year, despite the slow economic growth that economists are saying is the worst economic performance in four years. Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan has put the odds of a recession at one in three, however.

Economic growth slowed to a near crawl of 1.3 percent in the first three months of 2007, the worst performance in four years. The main culprit: the housing slump.

The fresh reading on gross domestic product, released by the Commerce Department on Friday, was even weaker than the 2.5 percent growth rate logged in the final three months of last year. The new figures underscored just how much momentum the economy has been losing as it copes with the strain of the troubled housing market, which has made some businesses more cautious in their spending.

The first-quarter GDP figure was the weakest since a 1.2 percent pace registered in the opening quarter of 2003. GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is considered the best barometer of the country's economic fitness.

"This was tepid activity in the first quarter. The economy was taking a breather," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

The performance was even weaker than what economists expected; they had forecast a growth rate of 1.8 percent.

Still, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other economists don't expect the economy to fall into a recession this year. Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan has put the odds at one in three, however.

Even though the economy slowed in the first quarter, inflation picked up -- a development that will complicate the Fed's work.

An inflation gauge tied to the GDP report and closely watched by the Fed showed that core prices -- excluding food and energy -- rose at a rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter, up from a 1.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter. Another measure tracking all prices jumped by 3.4 percent in the first quarter, compared to a 1.0 percent decline, on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter.

Federal Reserve policymakers say the biggest danger to the economy is if inflation doesn't recede as they currently predict.

The Federal Reserve hasn't moved a key interest rate since August. Before that it had steadily lifted rates to ward off inflation. Many economists predict the Fed will continue to leave rates alone when it meets next month. The Fed's goal is to slow the economy sufficiently to key inflation in check, but not so much as to provoke a recession.

In other economic news, employers' costs to hire and retain workers grew by 0.8 percent in the first quarter, down slightly from a 0.9 percent increase in the fourth quarter, the Labor Department reported.

Wages and salaries went up 1.1%, the fastest since 2001. Benefit costs, however, edged up 0.1%, the slowest since the first quarter of 1999. The Fed keeps close tabs on labor costs for clues about inflation.

The reports come as President Bush continues to cope with mediocre ratings from the public on his economic stewardship, according to AP-Ipsos polls. Democrats, who have accused Bush of not doing enough to close the widening gap between high- and low-paid workers, are advocating a boost to the federal minimum wage and policies to help unions.

The biggest factor behind the first-quarter's slowdown was the crumbling housing market. Investment in home building was cut by 17 percent, on an annualized basis. That came after such investment was slashed at an even deeper 19.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

Weak investment by businesses in inventories also held back first-quarter GDP. However, business investment in equipment and software edged up at a 1.9 percent pace in the first quarter. That was lackluster but nevertheless marked an improvment from the 4.8 percent cut in the fourth quarter.

The country's bloated trade deficit also weighed on first quarter economic growth, shaving 0.52 percentage point off GDP.

Another factor holding back GDP in the first quarter was a 6.6 percent drop, on an annualized basis, in federal defense spending. That was the biggest cut since the final quarter of 2005.

Consumers whose shopping is indispensable to a booming economy boosted their spending at a 3.8 percent pace in the first quarter. That was a solid showing although it was slightly weaker than the 4.2 percent growth rate logged in the fourth quarter.

A key reason why consumers have remained resilient, even in the face of the painful housing slump, is that the jobs markets has managed to stay in good shape. The nation's unemployment rate dropped in March to 4.4 percent, matching a five-year low.

Court Asked to Limit Lawyers at Guantánamo

nytimes
The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to impose tighter restrictions on the hundreds of lawyers who represent detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the request has become a central issue in a new legal battle over the administration's detention policies.

Saying that visits by civilian lawyers and attorney-client mail have caused “intractable problems and threats to security at Guantánamo,” a Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers' contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases that would replace more expansive rules that have governed them since they began visiting Guantánamo detainees in large numbers in 2004.

The filing says the lawyers have caused unrest among the detainees and have improperly served as a conduit to the news media, assertions that have drawn angry responses from some of the lawyers.

The dispute is the latest and perhaps the most significant clash over the role of lawyers for the detainees. “There is no right on the part of counsel to access to detained aliens on a secure military base in a foreign country,” the Justice Department filing argued.

Under the proposal, filed this month in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the government would limit lawyers to three visits with an existing client at Guantánamo; there is now no limit. It would permit only a single visit with a detainee to have him authorize a lawyer to handle his case. And it would permit a team of intelligence officers and military lawyers not involved in a detainee's case to read mail sent to him by his lawyer.

The proposal would also reverse existing rules to permit government officials, on their own, to deny the lawyers access to secret evidence used by military panels to determine that their clients were enemy combatants.

Many of the lawyers say the restrictions would make it impossible to represent their clients, or even to convince wary detainees — in a single visit — that they were really lawyers, rather than interrogators.

Jonathan Hafetz of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, a lawyer who has helped to coordinate strategy for the detainees, said the government was trying to disrupt relationships between the lawyers and their clients and to stop the flow of public information about Guantánamo, which he described as a “legal black hole” before the courts permitted access for the lawyers in 2004.

“These rules,” Mr. Hafetz said, “are an effort to restore Guantánamo to its prior status as a legal black hole.”

The dispute comes in a case in which detainees are challenging decisions by military panels that they were properly held as enemy combatants. The Justice Department's proposed rules could apply to similar cases that lawyers say are likely to eventually involve as many as 300 of the roughly 385 detainees now held at Guantánamo.

Some of the detainees' lawyers say the Justice Department proposal is only the latest indication of a long effort to blunt their effectiveness, which they say was evident in statements of a senior Pentagon official early this year. The official, Charles D. Stimson, deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs, resigned after he was criticized for suggesting that corporations should consider severing business ties with law firms that represented Guantánamo detainees.

Under the current rules, legal mail is inspected for contraband but is not read. The lawyers, who have security clearances, are presumed to be entitled to review classified evidence used against their clients.

There is no limit on the number of times lawyers can visit their clients. Some say that they have been to Guantánamo 10 or more times and that they have needed the time to work with clients who are often suspicious and withdrawn.

Justice Department officials would not comment on the proposal, which is scheduled to be the subject of a court hearing on May 15.

The filing used combative language, saying lawyers had been able to “cause unrest on the base” and mentioned hunger strikes, protests and disobedience. An affidavit by a Navy lawyer at Guantánamo, Cmdr. Patrick M. McCarthy, that accompanied the filing, said lawyers had gathered information from the detainees for news organizations. Commander McCarthy also said the lawyers had provided detainees with accounts of events outside Guantánamo, like a speech at an Amnesty International conference and details of terrorist attacks.

“Such information,” his affidavit said, “threatens the security of the camp, as it could incite violence among the detainees.”

Several detainees' lawyers involved in some of the incidents denied that they had caused security problems. Neil H. Koslowe, a lawyer at Shearman & Sterling in Washington, called the assertion a “McCarthy-era charge” that was not supported by the evidence.

The dispute over the lawyers' role is one of the first issues the appeals court in Washington will have to decide as it opens a new chapter of the legal battle over Guantánamo. In 2005, Congress designated that court as the forum for detainees to challenge directly decisions made by the Pentagon's combatant status review tribunals designating them as enemy combatants.

But many detainees' lawyers have resisted filing petitions to review those decisions because Congress narrowly defined the arguments the appeals court could consider. The law said the court could review whether a panel's decision “was consistent with the standards and procedures” set forth by the Pentagon.

Instead, many detainees' lawyers pursued habeas corpus petitions, using the centuries-old legal proceeding to ask a judge for release from imprisonment. But after a complex trip through the courts, Congress last year passed a provision intended to strip courts of the authority to hear habeas corpus cases involving Guantánamo detainees.

A divided panel of the federal appeals court in Washington upheld that provision in February. And early this month, the United States Supreme Court declined to review that decision. Two justices, John Paul Stevens and Anthony M. Kennedy, said that before the Supreme Court could again consider whether Congress was permitted to strip the courts of the ability to consider the habeas corpus cases, the detainees had to try to complete the appeals court review of their enemy combatant decisions.

As a result, much of the focus in the legal battle is now shifting to the appeals court. Scores of petitions seeking review of the combatant-status rulings are expected to be filed in the coming weeks, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, an advocacy group that has been coordinating the detainees' lawyers. The May 15 arguments will focus on rules that could apply to all of those cases.

Lawyers say they are pressing ahead with the more limited review process in the appeals court as part of an effort to set the stage for a return to the Supreme Court. Some lawyers said that while they may lose, that would allow them to argue to the Supreme Court that the reviews were so limited that the detainees needed the more sweeping consideration permitted in habeas corpus cases.

But government lawyers, too, are developing new strategies in the wake of the Supreme Court action this month. They say that Congress and the courts have determined that expansive habeas corpus petitions are not available to the detainees.

As a result, they say, rules like those that allowed unlimited visits with detainees are no longer necessary as the detainees pursue the more limited appeals court review.

But, while arguing that detainees have no right to lawyers, the Justice Department filing said the government was giving the Guantánamo detainees enough access to lawyers so that “the court's review will be assisted by having informed counsel.”

Pentagon wants to end controversial spying program

afp
The Pentagon wants to close a domestic terrorism spying venture that has drawn criticism for collecting information on peaceful activists inside the United States, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The new undersecretary of defense for intelligence, James Clapper, found disappointing results during a review of the Pentagon's Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) database, instituted in 2003.

Clapper "has assessed the results of the TALON program and does not believe they merit continuing the program as currently constituted, particularly in light of its image in Congress and the media," spokesman Pat Ryder said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has not yet made a formal decision to shut down the program, Ryder added.

The Pentagon admitted last year that a small portion of the information collected in the database "either should have been purged, or was data that was not appropriate for reporting in that system."

The TALON program began in 2003 to track suspects with possible links to terrorists as part of the United States' post-September 11, 2001 "war on terror."

Parts of the database leaked to news reporters have shown that the Pentagon has been collecting information on peace activists and monitoring anti-war protests across the country.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last year filed several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking to uncover which peace group is being spied on by the Pentagon and why.

The filing was on behalf of several national groups and seven Florida-based peace activist groups, including Florida members of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker religious-based peace group.

"We found there were any number of things with respect to that program where there were data that was maintained in a database where they probably should have not been maintained there," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

"Everybody will agree there is a need to be able to monitor report threats on US installations and against US military personnel and how you go about that is I guess what the issue is here."

Influential Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said "there are ways to protect defense facilities and military personnel without this kind of overreaching" and saluted the Pentagon's will to put an end to the program.

"Talon was another costly, controversial and poorly focused venture that did not make us any safer," Leahy said.

"Without clear rules and close oversight, databases like this can easily be abused to violate the public's constitutional and privacy rights."